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The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident Tuesday at Port Columbus in
which two passengers accused a Southwest Airlines pilot of having been drinking.

The Chicago-based captain, who was preparing to pilot Flight 3396 to Orlando, Fla., was replaced
by another Southwest captain, said a spokesman for the airline, which also is reviewing the
matter.

The accused captain, now on paid leave, isn't being identified because he wasn't arrested and no
charges have been filed. The plane he was to pilot, a Boeing 737 capable of carrying more than 120
passengers, ended up departing on time Tuesday afternoon.

According to a report filed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority police, Andy Maisner and
business colleague Chan Mahon noticed the captain at a security checkpoint staffed by the
Transportation Security Administration.

"As we went through security, we told the TSA guy, 'Hey, that pilot smells like he's reeking of
alcohol. He ought to be checked out,' " Maisner told WBNS-10TV last night.

Maisner and Mahon, both California residents, followed the captain down Concourse A and become
alarmed when they mistakenly thought he was heading to the gate where their flight was about to
begin boarding.

"So we went up, and Chan said to the pilot, 'Hey, you just reek of alcohol, and if you've got a
drinking problem, you shouldn't be flying this plane.'

"The guy just took off running. He didn't say, 'I haven't been drinking.' He just turned beet
red and took off."

Airport police found the captain in a nearby restroom, where he'd traded his uniform jacket and
cap for a "civilian" jacket, the report said.

While in the restroom, the captain apparently called the airline to report that he was sick,
triggering his replacement on the Orlando-bound flight.

The police officers said the captain did smell of alcohol but didn't appear to be impaired. He
told them that he had "partied hard" at his hotel the night before but that he hadn't been drinking
that day, the report said.

Airline officials told police that the captain would be given a blood-alcohol test. No results
were immediately available.

FAA regulations stipulate that no one can pilot an aircraft within eight hours of consuming
alcohol or with a blood-alcohol content of 0.04 or higher.

It turned out that the plane Maisner and Mahon were about to board was adjacent to Flight
3396.